What impact will rail project have on area?

The question then becomes: What do communities along the S line get? The short answer appears to be advice and money, which will be used to upgrade the S line in order to carry more freight trains.

By Bill ThompsonStaff writer

For two years, the Florida Senate had derailed the Orlando-centric commuter rail project called SunRail.Last Tuesday, the staunch opposition, led by state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, finally collapsed. The anti-SunRail forces succumbed under the weight of a 27-10 vote, fueled by endorsements for the $1.2 billion project that rang from city halls around the Orlando area to the AFL-CIO's union halls to the halls of Congress.Orlando will get its rail service, which will stretch for 61 miles between DeLand and Poinciana on tracks the state will buy from CSX Transportation.Since its outset, the deal to bring SunRail to fruition has been predicated on shifting some of CSX's freight train traffic from the company's A line  which will carry the commuter trains  to the S line, which runs through the heart of the state, including Marion, Alachua and Sumter counties.The question then becomes: What do communities along the S line get?The short answer appears to be advice and money, which will be used to upgrade the S line in order to carry more freight trains.But what that advice is, and how much money and how many trains, remain to be seen.The framework'The commuter rail law passed on Tuesday calls on state transportation officials to "work closely" with and "provide technical assistance" to all of the affected communities on the S line to gauge the impact of increasing the volume of freight rail traffic.Steve Olson, spokesman for Florida Department of Transportation District 5, which includes Marion County, said that language establishes a "framework" for assisting those areas.But specific details of what that entails still must be addressed with local transportation planners, he said.The money is what might matter most, because more trains will mean more frequent traffic delays in the S line communities. SunRail proponents promised plenty to Marion, Alachua, Sumter and other areas to offset that.According to a nonbinding agreement reached in August 2006, which provided the framework for negotiations between state transportation officials and CSX executives, the state would spend $59 million for new or upgraded overpasses at Southwest 17th Street in Ocala as well as two in Wildwood (at State Road 44 and U.S. 301) and two in Alachua County, at SR 26 east of Gainesville and SR 20 in Hawthorne. The 17th Street overpass was the first of these projects, completed in April at a cost of $25 million.Meanwhile, earlier this year, public records indicated that the FDOT's total cost for those overpasses had jumped by nearly four times the initial estimate, to $209 million.The agreement also said the state would fund $198 million of track improvements up and down the S line  the foundation for the shift of CSX's freight trains to the S line and the implementation of SunRail. Those initiatives included laying miles of extra track along targeted sections to either allow faster trains to pass slower ones or to permit trains traveling opposite directions to not have to wait for a single segment of track.That was to happen in Hawthorne, Lochloosa, Anthony, Ocala, Santos, Summerfield and Wildwood.CSX, in a 2005 report submitted to the Florida Department of Transportation, estimated those projects at $59.5 million.CSX in that report had also proposed making other improvements in Marion and Alachua that totaled about $28.5 million. Those were not referenced in the August 2006 list.Greg Slay, executive director of the Ocala-Marion County Transportation Planning Organization, or TPO, said the proposed increase in train traffic had led the agency to seek help getting additional overpasses along CSX's tracks at Northeast 25th and 36th avenues, as well as "quiet zones" throughout the county.The SunRail project also prompted talks of adding extra track  or "double-tracking"  the S line from 17th Street out to 36th Avenue, Slay said."That is a benefit by allowing trains to pass so that we won't have trains backed up out into traffic. That's our primary concern," Slay said.That also concerned state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, who fought for those new overpasses in the final moments of the recent special session.Proposed amendmentThe Ormond Beach Republican, whose district encompasses much of eastern Marion County, proposed an amendment that would have forced FDOT to set aside part of any future increase in revenues or savings on projects already funded in the agency's current five-year work plan toward additional overpasses in Marion.Failing that, FDOT in July 2014 would make Marion County its top priority for fixing gridlock associated with the additional freight train traffic, the amendment said.The amendments were never considered, however. Lynn said in a recent interview that she was rebuffed by the House leaders who assured her the overpass issue was covered in the bill.Lynn still disputes that, saying she has doubts. "We know we need overpasses. We know we need this now. We need some money and we need the construction to be done," she said."But I have to trust that (House) Speaker (Larry) Cretul will ensure that there will be funding for overpasses."In response, Cretul's office said he is mindful that FDOT must assess how the bill affects communities like Marion and Alachua counties, and highlighted that the measure includes $60 million that state transportation officials can use to reduce the impact of the freight-train shift. "This provision was put in the bill because it is good public policy; it applies to every affected county  not just Marion  because the representatives and senators representing those areas made it a priority," Jill Chamberlin, Cretul's spokeswoman, said in an e-mail response.She also noted that Senate President Jeff Atwater and Cretul agreed before the special session started that the Senate would accept the House bill, and that there would be no amendments."And there were none," she added.Olson, the FDOT spokesman, said, "We need to analyze this newly passed legislation and see how  and if  it affects our work program, and where the funding comes from for rail improvements such as the S line. It could change certain things, as far as funding source. But we have to see, we have to look at that and analyze the legislation."The concern for the overpasses is rooted in the number of trains that will eventually travel the S line because of SunRail, which is to launch in 2012.When the FDOT's deal with CSX first became public in 2006, officials said the freight-train volume would increase from 22 trains a day to between 30 and 33.Slay said that the local TPO is sticking with that number, planning on seven to 10 trains a day. That comports with past estimates offered by CSX.Yet a May 2005 FDOT report observed that upgrading the S line to accommodate the diversion of A-line freight trains could increase its capacity to handle up to 54 trains a day. Which, according to Dockery and other SunRail opponents, is the real objective of the SunRail plan  a notion dismissed by CSX executives.Still, in that 2005 report to the state, CSX pointed out the benefits of improving the S line. "A significant opportunity exists to improve the quantity, quality and reliability of freight transportation into the growing population centers of Florida," the company said. "The result of completing the projects discussed will be a significantly more productive and efficient S-Line' corridor and terminal facilities for CSX to handle Central and Southern Florida's freight needs."Local officials are trying to prepare for however many trains might eventually come.Slay said Ocala city officials have started some preliminary design work for an overpass at Northeast 36th Avenue. "Ultimately," he predicted of the overpasses, "they will get done."Contact Bill Thompson at 867-4117.